25 and Dry Eye

[Shahara]

I've been struggeling with Dry Eyes since ages, I can't remember! I dont have any healthproblems or neither do I take any kinds of medication that can cause these severe drying of my eyes!
I have been to many Opth's, no one was able to help out!I'm living in Germany and many german eye specialists don't know much about it either! I drink, eat healthy, take care of my eyes, plus I'm on Restasis since almost an year now! but nothing really seems to help! there have been less dry eye days! and Restasis did help to a certain limit but I still suffer!
I take Vidisic Eyegel, but my eyes dry out a lot at night! I have tried to cover up my eyes with a bandage before going to bed which is a bit uncomfortable, hoping that might bring anything, but I'm afraid that's not much of a use!
travelling is hell! everytime I hang out at malls! or I go to a park, my eyes get worse! using drops doesn't help at all! right now I take "Artelac", but that's **** really! Need advice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do use Kajal, but this is my daily routine:
removing kajal with PHas Eye make up remover (LaRoch posay PHAS)
washing eyes with cold water!(someone even recommended salt water but that doesn't help)
Babyshampoo (no help though, at nights my eyes are really red)
and Vidisic gel (drying is still there!)
What else can I do?

Depressed

[Shahara]

P.s:I've got the plugs too

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi Shahara and welcome!

I take Vidisic Eyegel, but my eyes dry out a lot at night! I have tried to cover up my eyes with a bandage before going to bed which is a bit uncomfortable, hoping that might bring anything, but I'm afraid that's not much of a use!

You may want to switch to something preservative free or at least try other brands. Covering the eyes at night can be helpful and there are products which are comfortable (sleep masks, Tranquileyes goggle).

What else can I do?

Take a look at our treatment page for starters.

You need to find out in particular if your meibomian glands are clogged and if so start treating them (this is a common cause of dry eye symptoms) with warm compresses and/or Omega 3s and/or oral antibiotics.

Warm or cool compresses may also help with discomfort.

I strongly recommend good protective eyewear outdoors. Check out this link for some examples.

You may want to find an alternative to the baby shampoo. For many of us the baby shampoo makes things worse by destabilizing the tear film. Alternatives include commercial lidscrub products or (what I do) just plain saline with a Q-tip.

Have you tried going without the Kajal for a little while to see if it makes any difference?

[Hangus]

Hi Shahara
Just to let you know that I have had dry eye following lasik for about 20 months now but in the last 6 weeks they have improved massively to the point where they feel almost normal. I am not sure whether this is seasonal or permanent but it does give hope that things can change, you just have to stay positive.
2 months ago I began a very strict regime of boiled water lid scrubs first thing, lacrilube at night with drops close at hand for any sticking, and flax seed oil capsules. Not saying that this is the magic bullet but certainly my condition has improved significantly.
Keep your chin up and try to record the severity of the symptoms because it is sometimes hard to recognise improvement when you cannot exactly remember how bad it was when it was at its worst.
Starting to ramble now so i am going back to my football match on the TV (thats soccer to our colonial cousins!)

Barry

[Shahara]

thanks

thanks, for your replies,

I've tried anything imaginable! Restasis has made my cornea certainly better! actually german eyedoc's are just impossible! they'd never make any effort to find the reason, be it memobian gland disfunction or whatever! they'd just say, use drops! believe me, I've been to many!!!
I'll try the scrub thing, warm compresses and flaxseed oil capsules! or Omega3/6 but how do you scrub? I've tried doing it with babyshampoo with lids closed and washing the area about 20sec's!!!
but didn't bring much!
I'm not giving up! but I'm young and I want to travel have fun, due to this, life's just suffering
take care and wish you the best

Sh.

[Judy]

Hi Shahara,

If I could ONLY choose one thing to do for my dry eyes, it would be using the preservative free saline to rinse them out in the shower, then using q-tips and scrubbing (gently) prior to applying face moisturizers and makeup. That has greatly helped me both with the pain, (at least temporarily) and as far as keeping my eyes more clean... Rebecca mentioned she also does this...

I also think my Restasis has helped greatly. Hang in there and keep studying this site as there are so many helpful ideas!! Many people are improving, sometimes it is just baby steps!